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Gold Delta SkyMiles® Credit Card from American Express – Review

AT A GLANCE

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The Gold Delta SkyMiles® Credit Card from American Express is a popular travel rewards credit card with a $95 annual fee and a solid Delta airline rewards program that favors regular Delta flyers who earn rewards fast enough to neutralize the annual fee. All Delta purchases, including airfare and incidentals, earn an unlimited 2 SkyMiles rewards points per $1 spent. All other purchases earn an unlimited one SkyMile per $1 spent. You can redeem accumulated SkyMiles for Delta airfare, select merchandise available at the SkyMiles Marketplace, and other goodies.

Key Features

Sign-up Bonus

You earn 30,000 Delta SkyMiles when you spend at least $1,000 within 3 months of account opening. That’s reliably worth $225 in Delta airfare, and often more (depending on point-to-dollar conversion rates, which can range up to $0.02 per SkyMile).

Also, if you purchase a Delta flight with your card within 3 months of account opening, you get a $50 statement credit. All told, the combined sign-up bonus for this card is worth at least $275.

Earning Delta SkyMiles

You earn 2 SkyMiles per $1 spent on Delta airfare, in-flight purchases, lounge passes, and other incidentals, with no caps or restrictions. All other purchases earn 1 SkyMile per $1 spent, again with no restrictions.

Redeeming SkyMiles

Accumulated SkyMiles can be redeemed for Delta airfare, starting at 10,000 miles for domestic economy one-ways and 12,500 miles for more flexible travel dates. Certain travel dates and times may require more miles, depending on season and demand. For instance, it’s likely to cost more to fly to a popular vacation destination on a peak-season Friday than an off-season Tuesday.

Airfare redemption point values generally range from $0.005 to $0.02, but can be higher or lower than that range. SkyMiles can also be redeemed in the online SkyMiles MarketPlace for merchandise, gift cards, and experiences (such as performances), typically at conversion rates far below $0.01 per mile. Minimum mileage requirements for merchandise redemptions start around 2,000 and rise from there.

Delta Travel Benefits

The Gold Delta SkyMiles card comes with a slew of Delta-specific travel benefits:

Other Travel Benefits

The Gold Delta SkyMiles card comes with other travel benefits not specific to Delta:

24/7 global assistance for travelers more than 100 miles from home

24/7 roadside assistance for all travelers

Car rental insurance (loss and damage) when the rental is charged to your SkyMiles card

Travel accident (death and dismemberment) insurance

Important Fees

The $95 annual fee is waived for the first year, and there is no foreign transaction fee. Balance transfers and cash advances both cost the greater of $5 or 3%, while late and returned payments both cost up to $38.

Shopping Benefits

Gold Delta SkyMiles has some useful shopping benefits:

12-month extended warranty on any item with an original warranty of five years or less

Purchase protection insurance (good for 90 days from purchase date) for stolen or damaged items

Credit Required

This card requires excellent credit

Advantages

Unlimited Discounts on Airport Lounge Access. Gold Delta SkyMiles card membership entitles you and one traveling companion to unlimited discounts on Delta Sky Club single visit passes, which are good for one day at one Sky Club location. Cardholders and their companions get passes for $29 per person, compared with $59 per person at full price. Comparable airline rewards cards rarely offer such generous airport lounge deals. For example, Chase United MileagePlus Explorer ($95 annual fee) offers just 2 complimentary passes per year, while British Airways Visa Signature ($95 annual fee) has no lounge privileges at all.

SkyMiles Can Be Valuable When Redeemed for Airfare. SkyMiles can be quite valuable when redeemed for Delta airfare – reliably worth at least $0.075 per mile, often worth $0.01, and sometimes worth as much as $0.02. Keep in mind that point values can vary at redemption, even for the same routes, based on factors such as time, date, season, demand, and more.

No Foreign Transaction Fee. The Gold Delta SkyMiles card doesn’t have a foreign transaction fee, which is always nice for frequent overseas travelers. The Expedia+ Card from Citi does have a foreign transaction fee – a pesky 3% of the total transaction amount.

Points Never Expire. As long as your account remains open and in good standing, the SkyMiles you accumulate with this card never expire. Many airline and hotel rewards credit cards, including British Airways Visa Signature, require you to earn or redeem points after a certain amount of time (often a year) has elapsed.

Disadvantages

Charges an Annual Fee. This card comes with a $95 annual fee, which sets it apart from fee-free travel rewards cards such as Expedia+ from Citi, Discover it Miles, and Capital One VentureOne Rewards.

Low Point Values for Non-airfare Redemptions. When it comes time to redeem your accumulated SkyMiles, Delta airfare is far and away offers the best bang for your buck. The general merchandise and gift cards available at the SkyMiles Marketplace often sell for 2 to 3 SkyMiles per $0.01 – in other words, SkyMiles are worth just $0.003 to $0.005 here. By contrast, one-way economy flights (which often cost $100, $200, or even more) start at 10,000 points. The SkyMiles MarketPlace’s unfavorable redemption rates render Delta’s rewards program more restrictive than necessary. If you’re seeking a travel rewards credit card that lets you redeem for a wide range of items at more favorable rates, try Chase Sapphire Preferred, Discover it Miles, or Capital One Venture Rewards instead.

Non-Delta Purchases Have Limited Earning Power. If you use this card for general, everyday spending, you won’t rack up the rewards very quickly. Only Delta purchases earn more than 1 SkyMile per $1 spent, raising the investment (both in terms of time and money) necessary to earn a free flight. By contrast, Barclaycard Arrival Plus® World Elite Mastercard® ($89 annual fee, waived during the first year) earns an unlimited 2 points per $1 spent on all purchases.

No Automatic Status Levels or Upgrades. Gold Delta SkyMiles card membership doesn’t entitle you to any special loyalty status levels, which typically come with valuable perks such as discounts at partner hotels and accelerated point earnings. The Expedia+ Voyager Card from Citi ($95 annual fee) automatically entitles you to Expedia Gold status, which comes with a 30% point bonus on all purchases and free hotel room upgrades when available.

Final Word

Thanks to the SkyMiles MarketPlace, Delta and American Express can honestly claim that their customers can redeem accumulated SkyMiles for much more than Delta airfare. Plenty of other airlines and airline rewards card issuers offer equivalent deals on merchandise and experiences too. However, the devil is in the details – or, rather, the pricing. The SkyMiles MarketPlace dramatically inflates its merchandise’s point costs, charging double or triple what you’d expect to pay at Amazon or in a brick-and-mortar retail store.

Fortunately, Gold Delta SkyMiles’ airfare redemption rates meet or exceed standards set by the competition. If you’re looking for solid deals on Delta airfare, the Gold Delta SkyMiles® Credit Card from American Express is your card. If you want to use your earned rewards to buy things you can use on the ground, look elsewhere.

Related

Gold Delta SkyMiles® Credit Card from American Express

The Gold Delta SkyMiles® Credit Card from American Express is ideal for frequent Delta flyers who earn rewards quickly enough to offset the $95 annual fee and enjoy practical travel benefits, such as priority boarding, free checked bags, and airport lounge access. Due to poor non-Delta rewards and limited earning power outside the Delta universe, it’s not great for infrequent Delta flyers and those looking for a general-spending credit card.

Score: 4.1 out of 5 stars

A nice sign-up bonus, favorable airfare redemption rates, discounted airport lounge access, and in-flight discounts are key perks. The annual fee, slow earning power on non-Delta purchases, poor redemption values for everything other than airfare, and no automatic loyalty status qualification all hurt. Overall, this card is very good for regular Delta fliers and mediocre for everyone else.

Editorial Note: The editorial content on this page is not provided by any bank, credit card issuer, airline, or hotel chain, and has not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities. Opinions expressed here are the author's alone, not those of the bank, credit card issuer, airline, or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.

Brian Martucci writes about frugal living, entrepreneurship, and innovative ideas. When he’s not interviewing small business owners or investigating time- and money-saving strategies for Money Crashers readers, he’s probably out exploring a new trail or sampling a novel cuisine. Find him on Twitter @Brian_Martucci.

Comments Disclosure: The below responses are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.

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